study" and Supervisor of School Gardens in Washington, D.C., and ten- 

 tative arrangements were made for a planting ceremony in the spring. 

 Accordingly, a boy from each public school in the District would be 

 chosen to visit In the Woods, where he would receive a Japanese flow- 

 ering cherry tree to plant in his schoolyard (14). Fairchild then ordered an 

 additional 150 flowering trees for this project. His order stipulated the 

 urgency that the plants arrive for the Arbor Day observance on March 27, 

 1908 (15). 



By mid-March 1908, arrangements for the Arbor Day project had been 

 completed, and Miss Sipe and the schoolboys were preparing for the tree 

 planting. For the coming ceremony, each boy was provided with at least a 

 yard of twine and about two square feet of rough cloth wrap for the 

 young trees (16). On the day before Arbor Day, Eliza Scidmore, who was 

 also interested in the beautification of the Washington area, discussed 

 with Fairchild the possibility of promoting the planting of Japanese 

 cherry trees along the newly constructed "Speedway" (now called West 

 Potomac Park). Enthusiastic about this common area of interest, Fair- 

 child explained to Miss Scidmore the school program that was planned 

 for the Arbor Day celebration. He invited her to attend his closing illus- 

 trated lecture the following afternoon at the Franklin School in Wash- 

 ington, D.C. 



On the morning of Arbor Day, Miss Sipe and 83 schoolboys arrived at 

 Fairchild's home for the cherry trees (fig. 5). As the Franklin School, 

 where Fairchild was to give his Arbor Day lecture, did not have a school- 

 yard, Miss Sipe had obtained special permission from Colonel Charles 

 Brownell, in charge of Public Buildings and Grounds for Washington, 

 D.C, to plant a tree in Franklin Park, directly across the street from this 

 school. 



Although the participants did not realize it at the time, the Franklin 

 Park tree planting was historically significant, for as the program ended, 

 Fairchild for the first time publicly expressed an appeal that the 

 Speedway should be transformed into a "Field of Cherries." With these 

 words, he was also voicing the opinion of his distinguished guest, Eliza 

 Scidmore, whom afterwards he referred to as a great authority on Japan 

 (17). 



The tree planting by Washington schoolchildren was timely, for, at the 

 White House, Mrs. William Howard Taft was interested in similar beau- 

 tification efforts. With the assistance of Colonel Spencer Cosby, the newly 

 appointed Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, Mrs. Taft 

 had been working on a plan for developing Potomac Park. The details 

 were being drawn up by George E. Burnap, a landscape architect under 

 Colonel Cosby. This plan soon began to emerge, encouraged by both 

 Fairchild and Eliza Scidmore. 



In a letter dated April 4, 1909, written by David Fairchild to Cosby, 

 Fairchild offered to take the necessary steps to import, as a gift, Japanese 

 cherry trees similar to those that they had arranged to be planted in the 



